5 Top Tips for Sourcing Quality Fabric: A Guide for Fashion Students and Emerging Designers

For fashion students and emerging designers, sourcing fabric can be one of the most exciting and challenging parts of developing a collection. The right fabric can elevate a design, improve how a garment fits and moves, and help it stand up to repeated wear. But with so many fibres, blends, weights and finishes to choose from, knowing whether a fabric is genuinely good quality isn’t always straightforward.

The fashion experts at Abayauth recommend getting into the habit of testing fabric before committing to a purchase. A few simple checks can reveal a great deal about how a material is likely to perform once it becomes a garment.

Here are five practical tips to help you make more informed fabric-sourcing decisions.

1. Test the Stretch and Recovery

If you’re sourcing a fabric with stretch, gently pull a small section and then release it. A good-quality fabric with an appropriate fibre composition should return close to its original shape.

If the material stays stretched, looks warped or doesn’t recover properly, it could indicate that the fibre content or construction isn’t going to withstand repeated wear.

For designers, this matters beyond how the fabric feels when you first buy it. Consider what will happen after a garment has been worn, washed and stretched repeatedly. A fabric that recovers well is more likely to help the finished garment maintain its shape over time.

2. Check the Weave Density

One of the quickest ways to assess fabric construction is to hold it up to the light.

Generally, the less light that passes through the fabric, the denser the weave. A tightly constructed fabric can be a useful indicator of durability and can help you compare different options when you’re working within a limited student or start-up budget.

This doesn’t mean that a sheer or lightweight fabric is automatically poor quality. Different garments require different fabric constructions. The important thing is to understand whether the density is appropriate for the design and intended use.

Try comparing two similar fabrics side by side. Looking at how much light passes through each can give you a quick visual indication of how their constructions differ.

3. Try the Five-Second Scrunch Test

This is one of the simplest tests to perform and you don’t need specialist equipment.

Grab a section of the fabric and scrunch it tightly in your hand for around five seconds. Then release it and see how quickly it recovers.

A high-quality, tightly woven fabric will generally spring back with relatively few creases. If the fabric remains heavily crumpled, it could indicate a looser weave or a fibre composition that is more prone to creasing.

For designers, this is particularly useful when thinking about the finished garment rather than simply the fabric on the roll. A material that creases very easily may require more pressing and maintenance, while a fabric that doesn’t hold its shape could affect the garment’s appearance after repeated wear.

As one team member at Abayauth puts it:

“This is the test I run on almost everything before I buy it — I call it the scrunch test, and it takes about five seconds.”

The beauty of the test is its simplicity. You can do it while you’re browsing fabric in a shop, before you’ve committed to buying it.

4. Feel the Weight and Consistency

Pick up the fabric and pay attention to how it feels across the piece, rather than judging it from a single section.

Quality fabric should generally have a consistent weight and thickness. If some areas feel noticeably thinner, heavier or patchier than others, this could point to irregular manufacturing or inconsistent construction.

For students and emerging designers who may be sourcing from unfamiliar suppliers, this is a particularly useful check. Don’t be afraid to handle the fabric, fold it, turn it over and examine it from different angles.

Remember that heavier doesn’t automatically mean better. A delicate silk, lightweight cotton or fine wool can be perfectly high quality. What matters is whether the fabric’s weight and consistency are appropriate for the garment you’re designing.

5. Read the Fibre Content — Don’t Just Trust the Feel

The composition label can tell you something that touch alone can’t.

Blended fabrics aren’t inherently inferior. In fact, combining fibres can create useful characteristics such as improved durability, stretch, softness or ease of care. The key is understanding the proportions and considering whether they suit your design and how the finished garment is intended to be worn.

But fibre content is also worth considering from a sustainability and circular-design perspective. What happens to the garment at the end of its useful life is becoming an increasingly important consideration for fashion designers. Some textiles and single-fibre materials can be easier to sort and recycle, whereas complex fibre blends can be more difficult to separate and process.

That doesn’t mean designers should automatically avoid blended fabrics. A blend that makes a garment significantly more durable, wearable or longer-lasting may have advantages of its own. Instead, the aim is to understand the trade-offs and make the choice deliberately.

When sourcing, ask yourself: How should this garment perform? How long do I want it to last? How will it be cared for? And what could happen to the material when the garment is no longer wanted?

Thinking about these questions can encourage a more circular approach to design, considering not just the fabric’s journey from supplier to finished garment, but its potential journey through repeated wear, repair, reuse and, where possible, recycling.

For students and emerging designers, understanding fibre composition therefore isn’t just about choosing a fabric that looks and feels right. It’s about making informed material choices that consider performance, longevity and the garment’s potential after its first life.